A perfect movie adaption of the beloved book, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” Rooney Mara plays the complicated, yet brilliant computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and Daniel Craig plays Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist trying to solve a 40-year old murder. The two play very well off of each other and its a relationship that I want to see more of. Mara makes Lisbeth relatable, even though she’s nothing like most girls. I really felt for her throughout the movie and I know others did as well.

I couldn’t take my eyes off this film and thought about it days later which is why it’s one of my favorites of 2011. As someone who has also read Steig Larsson’s novel, the screenwriter did a fantastic job including several important scenes in the book into the film. I enjoyed the European original, but this American version centered more around the character of Lisbeth as the female protagonist and constructed her character beautifully.

Director David Fincher teams up again with the Oscar-winning ‘Social Network’ music duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The most dramatic and moving score of 2011, I hope they take home another Oscar for Best Original Score. Let’s hope to see more (and soon!) from Mara, as this is definitely her film and we’re just watching in awe the entire 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Author’s note: This film contains extreme graphic scenes and should not be viewed by anyone under the age of 17.

I saw the Swedish version of this movie, and it definitely intrigued me. It was someone hard to follow given the sub-titles, but this is one of the rare occasions where I will get to compare 2 cultures take on the same story. I am looking forward to seeing this!